In the frozen hush of a midnight forest, barren black trees rise like ancient, skeletal sentinels, their twisted branches clawing upward into an endless void—silent guardians framing a cataclysm of fractured light at the very center. From this desolate ground erupts a colossal tempest of shattered sapphire shards: thousands of jagged, crystalline fragments whirl in ecstatic, upward-spiraling chaos, each piece edged in searing crimson fire and veiled in deep indigo shadow. The shards glow from within as though ignited by a hidden, subterranean star—facets catch and refract phantom light in glimmers of magenta and electric blue, creating the illusion of radiant motion frozen mid-explosion.
At the storm’s pulsing core, a male face materializes from the very same fractured prism: eyes hollowed into profound indigo voids that stare outward with serene, unblinking intensity; brow and cheekbones etched in glowing angular facets; mouth suggested only by a shadowed crimson cleft. The visage remains half-dissolved—features woven seamlessly into the surrounding shards so that man and tempest become one entity: a spectral apparition rising from and dissolving back into the radiant maelstrom, calm amid the violence, as though he is both the source of the chaos and its quiet witness.
The composition surges vertically: the vortex of shards thrusts forcefully upward from the lower edge toward the top of the panel, pulling the eye along a powerful ascending diagonal while the horizontal expanse of barren trees and faint, wavering distortions anchors the scene in eerie stillness. Thick, layered acrylic builds textured depth in the crystalline facets—impasto edges catch real light to enhance the inner glow—while thinner glazes create luminous transparency where shards overlap, generating halos, afterimages, and chromatic friction. Stark contrast rules: cold midnight blues and indigos dominate the forest void, pierced and ignited by warm crimson-magenta fire; the white ground of the trees’ negative space amplifies isolation and infinite depth.
Notice how the central face draws the gaze inward with its quiet, confronting stare, then propels it outward and upward along the exploding shards and clawing branches—creating relentless rhythmic tension between serene containment at the core and violent dispersal into the night. The palette’s elemental clash (icy sapphire/indigo shadows versus burning crimson/magenta embers) heightens the sense of primal mystery: desolation giving birth to incandescent wonder, ruin cradling fragile human presence.
Part of the "Force of Nature" series, this unique painting channels raw, intuitive gesture to evoke the boundless depths of the human spirit—archetypal figure rendered not as literal portrait but as emergent force: a dark woodland deity forged from shattered light, ancient yet fiercely alive, serene yet explosive. In its high-contrast nocturnal drama, the work invites prolonged immersion—how does this spectral face rising from crystalline chaos stir your own sense of inner wilderness, quiet power amid desolation, or the poetry of spirit that burns brightest in the darkest wood?
Technical notes.
Unique painting. Acrylic on board Unframed dimensions: 24” high x 18” wide. Signed by the artist on the back, dated 2020.
In the frozen hush of a midnight forest, barren black trees rise like ancient, skeletal sentinels, their twisted branches clawing upward into an endless void—silent guardians framing a cataclysm of fractured light at the very center. From this desolate ground erupts a colossal tempest of shattered sapphire shards: thousands of jagged, crystalline fragments whirl in ecstatic, upward-spiraling chaos, each piece edged in searing crimson fire and veiled in deep indigo shadow. The shards glow from within as though ignited by a hidden, subterranean star—facets catch and refract phantom light in glimmers of magenta and electric blue, creating the illusion of radiant motion frozen mid-explosion.
At the storm’s pulsing core, a male face materializes from the very same fractured prism: eyes hollowed into profound indigo voids that stare outward with serene, unblinking intensity; brow and cheekbones etched in glowing angular facets; mouth suggested only by a shadowed crimson cleft. The visage remains half-dissolved—features woven seamlessly into the surrounding shards so that man and tempest become one entity: a spectral apparition rising from and dissolving back into the radiant maelstrom, calm amid the violence, as though he is both the source of the chaos and its quiet witness.
The composition surges vertically: the vortex of shards thrusts forcefully upward from the lower edge toward the top of the panel, pulling the eye along a powerful ascending diagonal while the horizontal expanse of barren trees and faint, wavering distortions anchors the scene in eerie stillness. Thick, layered acrylic builds textured depth in the crystalline facets—impasto edges catch real light to enhance the inner glow—while thinner glazes create luminous transparency where shards overlap, generating halos, afterimages, and chromatic friction. Stark contrast rules: cold midnight blues and indigos dominate the forest void, pierced and ignited by warm crimson-magenta fire; the white ground of the trees’ negative space amplifies isolation and infinite depth.
Notice how the central face draws the gaze inward with its quiet, confronting stare, then propels it outward and upward along the exploding shards and clawing branches—creating relentless rhythmic tension between serene containment at the core and violent dispersal into the night. The palette’s elemental clash (icy sapphire/indigo shadows versus burning crimson/magenta embers) heightens the sense of primal mystery: desolation giving birth to incandescent wonder, ruin cradling fragile human presence.
Part of the "Force of Nature" series, this unique painting channels raw, intuitive gesture to evoke the boundless depths of the human spirit—archetypal figure rendered not as literal portrait but as emergent force: a dark woodland deity forged from shattered light, ancient yet fiercely alive, serene yet explosive. In its high-contrast nocturnal drama, the work invites prolonged immersion—how does this spectral face rising from crystalline chaos stir your own sense of inner wilderness, quiet power amid desolation, or the poetry of spirit that burns brightest in the darkest wood?
Technical notes.
Unique painting. Acrylic on board Unframed dimensions: 24” high x 18” wide. Signed by the artist on the back, dated 2020.
